Skip to main content

Stay Golden, Ponyboy

You ever have one of those days where you feel golden?  Like, everything you did was pretty awesome and productive?  (You know, the opposite of anything that happens in our nation's capital?)

That was yesterday for me.  The whole day just felt good, you know?  I mean, most days I have pockets of awesomeness, but they're not usually connected and consistent.

First.  Bone-in chicken breasts on sale at the local Fareway.  For me, that means: practice chicken fabrication skills and make stock.


Making my own stock is always one of the most satisfying tasks I am currently aware of.  After a day of simmering chicken carcass, mirepoix, and other sundry seasonings, I froze 18 cups worth of stock this morning.  That's four and a half of those boxes of Swanson's...at a fraction of the cost.

The chicken breasts I fabricated went into a crockpot for yestereve's dinner, as I put my own spin on this chicken recipe (fresh mango, not dried, apple jelly instead of the chutney, plus other changes I'd make when I do it again).  Keepin' it simple, I served it over brown rice.

Then, I've wanted to try roasting cauliflower for some time now, and last night was the night.  Tossed it with some olive oil, drizzled with garlic and lemon juice, and baked it in the cast-iron skillet at 500 degrees for 20 minutes.


For dessert, I did a bread pudding (for some reason, I suspect I'm in the midst of a great love affair with this particular concoction).  This BP was inspired by citrus - orange marmalade, dried cranberries and golden raisins, and an orange-caramel sauce.


The final plating...and do you see the problem here?


THE PLATE IS MONOCHROMATIC!  Everything is roughly the same hue of off-white!  The curry-coated chicken adds a little yellow, and the cranberry bits provide color and texture in the chutney, but other than that...

I didn't even notice it until I plated it up.  Everything tasted wonderful, but I couldn't help wishing I'd done a green item.  Roasted broccoli, maybe?

Oh well.  It's like American poet Robert Frost said, "Nothing gold can stay."


Comments

  1. No roasted brussel sprouts? Love roasted brussel sprouts.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Garden Party, Pt. 2

6:30 is too early for a Sunday, ne c'est pas?  Alas, that is the time I arose this morning, and while my body wanted to fall back asleep, my mind was already off and running.  So, up I got. Something tells me I'm going to regret this later...like when I'm trying to watch the new Avengers movie tonight. Last Sunday was my last day off, and that was only at my request.  There are no more days off in the foreseeable future, between the part-time bar job and the near-40 hour demands of the restaurant.  It's a hard-knock life, I reckon, but that's how it goes when you're in search of The Dream.  So we savor the tranquil moments while we can.  Like yesterday, for example.  By some stroke of excellent luck, it was just me and the youngest son in the house for a few hours.  I took him out for lunch, and then I made him do yardwork with me.  I showed him how to mow the yard, and he discovered it's not terribly fun nor easy.  Ah, yes. Tranq...

Go Placidly

My food truck business started back up this past weekend, and from here until November, the weeks will be packed.  Sandwich-slinging Thursday-Saturday and bartending work Monday-Wednesday.  And Sunday, I guess, is the day to sleep in and hide in my house. Hiding out is the one thing I feel like doing a lot of these days.  My food truck's ReOpening wasn't the only thing happening in my hometown this weekend past.  A 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed on Saturday and then yesterday, the police department busted one of the biggest meth labs in a long time. Both are tragic...one is a sad loss, one that will devastate a loving family for the rest of their lives.  One is tragic only because of the profound stupidity/ignorance/addiction of a few people who happen to be living in a town mostly filled with good-hearted, hard-working people. And if it's not drama at the local level, then there's the constant bombardment of news that seems to be vividly...

Groceries This Week and The Three-Week Challenge!

Now, this is what I'd like my pie charts to look like every week: Somehow, I just can't get around buying condiments!  That's been a slice in my chart the last several weeks...this week, it was jelly for my kids' lunchtime PB & Js. The snacks slice is a bit bigger than I'd like, but I took advantage of the 2/$4 deal on graham crackers (got some frozen homemade cream cheese frosting I need to use up - hence, improviso s'mores!).  Also, Ritz crackers to substitute in for the "Lunchables" my daughter wanted to buy for her soccer games on Saturday. But, fresh produce at nearly a quarter of spending?  Yes, that's awesome.  My cart was laden with watermelon, apples, oranges, and muskmelon.  YUM!  The significantly smaller 'Meat' slice is due to a small purchase of lunchmeat for weekly wraps and sandwiches. I am pleased with the variety of spending, as well as the low receipt total this week. Spending This Week: $60.86  -  Total Expe...